Weight restrictions force talented apprentice to retire

Dylan Dunn
Weight and health issues has forced talented apprentice Dylan Dunn to retire from riding after kicking home 130 winners in Australia

TALENTED apprentice jockey Dylan Dunn has made the decision to retire because of weight issues.

The 22-year-old hasn’t ridden since early January due to glandular fever, which caused the young hoop to struggle with keeping the weight off.

Dunn, the son of senior rider Dwayne Dunn, said getting his weight down was tough and the continual need to waste was poor for his health.

“Coming back from glandular fever was proving hard and I was going to struggle to get my weight down, so rather than make my health suffer again I thought it was a good time to stop,” Dunn said.

Dunn, who is taller than most jockeys, was tipped to have weight problems due to his size, but hadn’t considered retiring until getting sick earlier this year.

“I wanted to walk away on a high and also I wanted to do the right thing by my health, and also I’m young enough to set myself up for my future,” Dunn said.

“Retiring definitely wasn’t on the cards until I got glandular fever.”

Ladbrokes.com.au

Racing Victoria even denied Dunn a riding license because of his size, but he persevered to have a prosperous three-year career.

“They refused to give me a licence as they thought my health would suffer as I was too tall, but it was just something I was determined to do,” Dunn said.

This writer has always had a strong opinion that the weight scale needs to be raised. There are too many talented jockeys either forced out of the game, like Dunn, or forced to waste whilst putting their everyday lives at risk.

Wasting has cost numerous jockeys their lives over the past five years, but racing authorities seem reluctant to raise the minimum weight scale.

There’s nothing wrong with having a minimum of 56kg and a maximum of 64kg, but for now it has cost Dylan Dunn, a winner of 130 races, his career.

“Dad is 173cm and I’m built a bit differently,” Dunn said. “I’m glad I did it and I’ve got some great memories, but my health would continue to suffer if I continually had to waste to ride.”

Dunn rode two group three winners, including the Easter Cup aboard Leebaz last year, but his highlight was riding a winner for Her Majesty the Queen.

“The group three winners and riding a winner for the Queen (Bold Sniper at Sandown) were my highlights,” Dunn said.

Dunn clearly has some smarts about him and he has already started thinking about his career prospects as either a mortgage broker or a presenter in the racing media.

“I’m better off doing it now and setting myself up for the future,” he said. “I could have kept riding as a heavyweight jockey until I was 30 but then I would have had to find another career then.”

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